Communications

Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.

The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.

More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a double bed-and-platen power press with a frisket at each end and is considered an unnumbered patent. The bed was raised by toggles beneath against the fixed platen.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a double bed-and-platen power press with a frisket at each end and is considered an unnumbered patent. The bed was raised by toggles beneath against the fixed platen. This patent provided the basis for the single-ended Adams Power Press, a well-loved iron machine later produced by R. Hoe & Co. In the 1870s it was still considered to produce finer letterpress work than any other machine on the market. It was pre-eminently a book press. Isaac Adams (1803-1883), with no schooling but ample inventive genius, introduced his power press at the age of 25 and derived his living from its success.
Date made
1830
ca 1830
patent date
1830-10-04
maker
Adams, Isaac
ID Number
GA.11024
accession number
48865
catalog number
GA*11024
GA.11024
patent number
6178X
This is a patent model of a typecasting machine, assigned patent number 632. This is patentee David Bruce's first patent for a typecasting machine, provided the basis for a generation of pivotal casters.
Description (Brief)
This is a patent model of a typecasting machine, assigned patent number 632. This is patentee David Bruce's first patent for a typecasting machine, provided the basis for a generation of pivotal casters. The model is damaged.
Description
This is a patent model of a typecasting machine, assigned patent number 632. This is patentee David Bruce's first patent for a typecasting machine, provided the basis for a generation of pivotal casters. The model is damaged.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
March 17, 1838
Patent Date March 17, 1838
ca 1838
date made
ca 1838
patent date
March 17, 1838
maker
Bruce, Jr., David
Bruce, Jr., David
ID Number
GA.89797.000632
patent number
000632
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.000632
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine to smooth the sides of type; the invention was granted patent number 631.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine to smooth the sides of type; the invention was granted patent number 631. In the inventor's opinion, this foot-driven machine allowed the operator to rub around sixty thousand types in a day, in conditions of less "unhealthiness" than the usual. The model is missing its treadle.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1838
patent date
1838-03-10
maker
Bruce, Jr., David
ID Number
GA.89797.000631
patent number
000631
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.000631
Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash.
Description
Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1837
associated person
Wheatstone, Charles
maker
Wheatstone, Charles
ID Number
1990.0539.51
accession number
1990.0539
catalog number
1990.0539.51
This is the prototype Morse telegraph transmitter made by Samuel F. B. Morse and exhibited in New York in 1837. Called a Port Rule,Morse and assistant Alfred Vail set lead slugs representing letters in the carriage that was then cranked under a rocker arm.
Description
This is the prototype Morse telegraph transmitter made by Samuel F. B. Morse and exhibited in New York in 1837. Called a Port Rule,Morse and assistant Alfred Vail set lead slugs representing letters in the carriage that was then cranked under a rocker arm. The arm made and broke contact with two cups at one end that contained mercury thus opening and closing the circuit. The current activated an electromagnet on the receiver.
Samuel F. B. Morse and assistant Alfred Vail constructed this telegraph transmitter in 1837 to prove messages could be sent with electricity. Morse and Vail called this device a Port Rule. They set lead slugs that represented letters and numbers in the carriage cranked under a rocker arm. The arm moved up and down dipping a wire on the end into two cups filled with mercury. That action opened and closed the circuit and sent an electrical pulse from a battery to an electromagnet mounted on the receiver.
Date made
1837
maker
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
ID Number
EM.181250.02
catalog number
181250.02
accession number
31286
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1831
depicted (sitter)
Marshall, John
designer
Newsam, Albert
original artist
Inman, Henry
ID Number
2014.0250.45
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.45
This acorn-framed press with Stansbury levers was made by Isaac & Seth Adams of Boston in about 1830. It includes a makers’ brass label. Its original frisket and forestay are missing.
Description (Brief)
This acorn-framed press with Stansbury levers was made by Isaac & Seth Adams of Boston in about 1830. It includes a makers’ brass label. Its original frisket and forestay are missing. The press has a height of 58 inches, a width at cheeks of 31.5 inches, and a length of 37 inches. The press platen measures 13 inches by 16.5 inches.
In about 1821 Abraham Stansbury of New York invented and patented a wood-framed press with two iron torsion levers. The press was manufactured by the Cincinnati Type Foundry from about 1827. A few years later the brothers Seth and Isaac Adams produced a modified form with three torsion levers and an all-iron acorn frame. In 1859 Isaac Adams sold his business to R. Hoe & Company, which continued to build the press for another twenty years. The brass label reads “ADAMS PRESS No. 325, Manufactured by I. & S. ADAMS & CO., Boston.”
Purchased in 1985.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1830
date made
ca 1830
maker
unknown
ID Number
1985.0498.01
accession number
1985.0498
catalog number
1985.0498.01
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen-printing press; the invention was granted patent number 1315. On the press, the feeding, inking and printing actions were directed by grooves on a driving cylinder.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen-printing press; the invention was granted patent number 1315. On the press, the feeding, inking and printing actions were directed by grooves on a driving cylinder.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1839
patent date
1839-09-07
maker
Schuebly, William
Schuebly, Thomas
ID Number
GA.89797.001315
accession number
089797
patent number
001315
catalog number
GA*89797.001315
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a crank-driven guillotine paper cutter; the invention is considered an unnumbered patent.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a crank-driven guillotine paper cutter; the invention is considered an unnumbered patent.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1834
patent date
1834-02-28
maker
Ames, J.
ID Number
1997.0198.17
catalog number
1997.0198.17
accession number
1997.0198
patent number
8030X
This acorn-framed press is missing it maker’s plate but was probably made by Otis Tufts of Boston in about 1835. The press has a height of 51 inches, a width, at the cheeks, of 32 inches, and a length of 54 inches.
Description (Brief)
This acorn-framed press is missing it maker’s plate but was probably made by Otis Tufts of Boston in about 1835. The press has a height of 51 inches, a width, at the cheeks, of 32 inches, and a length of 54 inches. Its platen is 16 inches by 20.5 inches.
Acorn-framed presses were made by a number of press builders, particularly in the Boston area, beginning in the early 1820s. Otis Tufts patented his acorn-framed hand press in 1831, and remained in the press-building business until 1837. Later he went into steam engineering. Tufts’s acorn presses can be distinguished from those of other manufacturers such as Adams, Dow, Hoe, or the Cincinnati Type Foundry by the decoration and shape of the acorn and the toggle arrangement. The elbow of the Tufts toggle folds to the left, and the lower joint pierces a cross bar between the cheeks of the press.
Donated by Donald J. Clifford, 1980
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1835
date made
ca 1835
maker
Tufts, Otis
ID Number
1980.0955.01
catalog number
1980.0955.01
accession number
1980.0955
This is the prototype of the Morse telegraph receiver made by Samuel F. B. Morse and exhibited in New York in 1837. A clockwork mechanism draws a roll of paper under a pencil. The line thus drawn moves to the right or to the left depending on whether an electromagnet is active.
Description
This is the prototype of the Morse telegraph receiver made by Samuel F. B. Morse and exhibited in New York in 1837. A clockwork mechanism draws a roll of paper under a pencil. The line thus drawn moves to the right or to the left depending on whether an electromagnet is active. The shape of the line represents the coded message.
Samuel F. B. Morse gained modest public attention as an artist in the 1820s. Seeking a more profitable venture, he converted this artist’s canvas stretcher into a telegraph receiver in 1837. The weight hanging off the right side of the piece powered a clockwork mechanism that pulled a strip of paper under a rocker arm. Electrical pulses from the transmitter activated an electromagnet that pulled a rocker arm to one side while a spring pulled the arm back when the power was off. A pencil mounted on the rocker arm drew a wavy line on a strip of paper as the arm moved left or right. The shape of the line represented the coded message.
Date made
1837
maker
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
ID Number
EM.181250.01
catalog number
181250.01
accession number
31286
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a web perfecting rotary press which was granted patent number 468. Flat forms of type were arranged around the surface of two type cylinders to form polygons.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a web perfecting rotary press which was granted patent number 468. Flat forms of type were arranged around the surface of two type cylinders to form polygons. The web of paper was printed on both sides at this press, then sent to a drying machine still in the web, and finally cut into sheets. The inventor is named "Trench" on the patent drawings and "French" on the specification.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1837
patent date
1837-11-20
maker
French, Thomas
ID Number
GA.11026
catalog number
GA*11026
accession number
49064
patent number
000468
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1832
referenced
Washington, George
original artist
Smith, J. R.
designer
Lehman, George
ID Number
2014.0250.46
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.46
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a bed-and-platen power press with two friskets which carried paper under the platen alternately. The platen was drawn down by toggles against a fixed bed; it was to be powered by man, steam, horse, or water.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a bed-and-platen power press with two friskets which carried paper under the platen alternately. The platen was drawn down by toggles against a fixed bed; it was to be powered by man, steam, horse, or water. The invention is considered an unnumbered patent.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1834
patent date
1834-08-22
maker
Tufts, Otis
ID Number
GA.11025
catalog number
GA*11025
accession number
48865
patent number
8380X
This lithograph, Passage de l’armé française à; l’hospice du Mont Saint-Bernard 15 Mai 1800 by Hippolyte Bellangé, shows Napoleon’s daring crossing of the Alps via the Great St. Bernard Pass on the Italian-Swiss border with his army of 40,000 men.
Description
This lithograph, Passage de l’armé française à; l’hospice du Mont Saint-Bernard 15 Mai 1800 by Hippolyte Bellangé, shows Napoleon’s daring crossing of the Alps via the Great St. Bernard Pass on the Italian-Swiss border with his army of 40,000 men. It was published with eleven other military views, including the Battle of Marengo, in a portfolio. Entitled Souvenirs militaires de la Republique, du Consulat et de l’Empire (Military Memories of the Republic, the Consulate, and the Empire), the firm of Gihaut introduced the album in 1834. It was the last but one in an annual series that Bellangé inaugurated in 1823. The prints in these portfolios included military views and some genre scenes.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1833
graphic artist
Bellangé, Hippolyte
ID Number
GA.15317
catalog number
15317
accession number
94830
Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest (1577-1638), Antwerp spice merchant, patron, and art collector, after the painting by Anthony van Dyck in the National Gallery, London.
Description
Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest (1577-1638), Antwerp spice merchant, patron, and art collector, after the painting by Anthony van Dyck in the National Gallery, London. The engraving, titled "Gevartius," originally appeared in a catalogue, The National Gallery of Pictures by the Great Masters (London:1836).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1835
publisher
Jones & Co.
graphic artist
Rogers, J. [John]
ID Number
GA.15979
catalog number
15979
accession number
99933
This experimental telegraph register was made by James Green and was reportedly used by Rev. Henry Sheib of Baltimore and Samuel Morse on private line demonstrations in the late 1830s.
Description (Brief)
This experimental telegraph register was made by James Green and was reportedly used by Rev. Henry Sheib of Baltimore and Samuel Morse on private line demonstrations in the late 1830s. After talking with Joseph Henry, Morse adopted u-shaped electromagnets like the one used on this object. The large wooden pulley supported a hanging weight that pulled the paper tape under the stylus.
Telegraph registers are electrically-activated printers that receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The pulses energize the register’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm holding a pen or stylus. A clockwork mechanism pulls a strip of paper across the pen or stylus, recording the message. Short pulses draw or emboss a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1837
maker
Green, James
ID Number
EM.181670
catalog number
181670
accession number
32976
Les Deux Frères by Louise Girard after a drawing by Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) of the children of Monsieur de la Villestreux is executed in the crayon manner, a process invented in France.
Description
Les Deux Frères by Louise Girard after a drawing by Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) of the children of Monsieur de la Villestreux is executed in the crayon manner, a process invented in France. Using special tools on a plate covered with an etching ground, the artist reproduces a drawing. When printed on the appropriate paper with the right kinds of inks, the reproduction closely resembles the original chalk drawing. The French firm Rittner & Goupil published this print on August 22, 1835. The original artist, Paul Delaroche, painted history subjects and portraits. In his day, he was a popular artist in the academic tradition, and engravings after his paintings sold very well in Britain and the United States.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1835
graphic artist
Girard, Louise
original artist
Delaroche, Paul
publisher
Rittner & Goupil
ID Number
GA.15249
catalog number
15249
accession number
94830
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1838
designer
Wild, John Caspar
maker
Wild, John Caspar
ID Number
2014.0250.15
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.15
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1832-06-08
June 8th, 1832
graphic artist; publisher
H. Holdship & Son
graphic artist; engraver
Savory
ID Number
2013.0065.02
accession number
2013.0065
catalog number
2013.0065.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1834
ID Number
2012.0093.13
catalog number
2012.0093.13
accession number
2012.0093
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835
maker
Richard Griffin & Co.
ID Number
2013.0071.09
catalog number
2013.0071.09
accession number
2013.0071
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835
maker
Richard Griffin & Co.
ID Number
2013.0071.07
catalog number
2013.0071.07
accession number
2013.0071
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835
maker
Richard Griffin & Co.
ID Number
2013.0071.06
catalog number
2013.0071.06
accession number
2013.0071

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